Coming off its first loss of the season on Sunday, the volleyball team was without three of its top hitters on Wednesday night. Even so, the match against the visiting Coast Guard Academy was never in doubt, as Tufts improved to 17-1 on the season.
In the first set, it appeared the Jumbos were in for another close contest, much like their 3-2 squeaker over MIT over the weekend. The set was tied 17-17 before Tufts won eight of the final 10 points, capped off by an ace by senior Maya Ripecky to clinch the opener. Ripecky finished the match with three aces and 17 digs.
The second set started similarly, as the Jumbos and Bears were tied at 12, but then a couple of key tandem blocks by sophomore Kelly Engelking and freshman Lexi Nicholas put Tufts on top for good. Engelking and Nicholas saw increased playing time because sophomores Dawson Joyce-Mendive and Caitlin Updike, as well as senior tri-captain Kate Denniston, were inactive.
"It's not a big deal because our bench is so deep," Nicholas said. "I feel like any six people on the bench are just as good as those out on the floor. Everyone did their jobs."
The Jumbos took a two-set advantage by pulling away at the end of the second and winning 25-20.
The match appeared in hand as the third set saw Tufts capture an early lead for the first time in the match, jumping ahead 4-2. But the Bears then countered with an incredible run, winning 17 of the next 19 points. Coast Guard senior Mary Blitzer picked up two aces during an eight-point run. The Jumbos rallied a comeback, cutting the lead to 22-17, but the deficit proved too large as the Bears earned a 25-19 victory.
"We had a great first two sets, but in the third we struggled with mental errors," said Nicholas, who finished with nine kills. "In the fourth set we worked better as a team, started to communicate and we pulled together."
"Our communication and positive energy broke down and we weren't playing our game," freshman Cara Spieler added. "Fortunately, we came back and came together when we started playing like a team."
Tufts quickly destroyed any momentum Coast Guard might have had in what proved to be the final frame, taking leads of 10-3 and 14-5 before the Bears called a timeout. The Coast Guard Academy then rolled off four consecutive points to cut the score to 14-9, but Tufts called a timeout of its own and quickly pulled away to a 19-10 advantage. The final score of the set was 25-13 as Coast Guard fell to 8-9 on the season.
"It forces us to come together," freshman Audrey Kuan said. "[Engelking] and [sophomore Nancy Shrodes] were boss. Nancy was spiking balls. We were slamming."
"We relied on some different lineups," senior tri-captain Stacy Filocco added. "Kelly Engelking came in on the outside and played well, and Nancy Shrodes played really well. This proves how deep our bench is."
Shrodes tallied a season-high eight kills while Engelking played in three sets for the first time this season. Junior Dena Feiger, who was named to the All-Tournament team at the Tufts Invitational, recorded match-high totals in assists and digs with 40 and 18, respectively.
Without Joyce-Mendive, Updike and Denniston, the team's top three in hitting percentage, the Jumbo attack suffered. Filocco paced Tufts in kills with 11, but as a whole the team hit at only a .184 clip. Spieler, who played in only three sets and was generally in the back row, had the second most attacking attempts behind Filocco. Updike and Denniston have both earned NESCAC Player of the Week honors this season, but their returns are unsure for this weekend.
Nine of the Tufts' final 10 matches will be on the road, starting with contests at Amherst and Middlebury this weekend.
Last year Amherst defeated Tufts in three sets. Now Tufts is the top-ranked team in New England, while Amherst is ranked fourth in the region. Both the Jumbos and the Lord Jeffs are 3-0 in conference play, but the Lord Jeffs have lost two straight matches in five sets and are 12-3 overall.
"It's exciting to go up against one of our big rivals, so we're pumped," Spieler said. "We need to keep working hard, and during that third game, we didn't play our game. Against Amherst, we won't be able to come back, so we need to play more consistent."
"Sometimes it's easier to play on the road because there are fewer distractions," Filocco said. "You know what you're there for and volleyball is the only thing. But it's tiring to be on the road. It's going to be a challenge to keep our focus and stay healthy. We try to treat every match like it's the most important of the season, but we know Amherst is very good. They will definitely present a challenge for us, and we're looking forward to that. We were challenged this past weekend against MIT and we stepped up, but against Union we didn't. This is another chance to prove ourselves."
